RIT Gannett Lecture Considers “What the West Owes Africa”

Author Rhoda Howard-Hassmann to give talk on Oct. 16

What does the western world owe Africa? Can reparations make amends for a history pock marked by the slave trade and colonial and post-colonial exploitation?

International human rights expert and scholar Rhoda Howard-Hassmann will explore this issue as part of the Caroline Werner Gannett Lecture series sponsored by the Rochester Institute of Technology College of Liberal Arts. She will present her talk, “What the West Owes Africa: Acknowledgment, Apologies and Compensation (?)” at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16, in Webb Auditorium of the James E. Booth Building on the RIT campus.

Howard-Hassmann holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Studies and Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. Her numerous publications include Compassionate Canadians: Civic Leaders Discuss Human Rights (2003), Human Rights and the Search for Community (1995) and Human Rights in Commonwealth Africa (1986). She also co-edited The International Handbook of Human Rights (1987).

“Rhoda Howard-Hassmann is a very distinguished scholar of international stature,” says Paul Grebinger, Gannett lecturer and coordinator of Senior Seminar at RIT. “And we feel quite fortunate to have her here especially to get a view of this issue from someone who is not from the United States, a person from a different national context.”

The Gannett lecture series at RIT is an integral part of Senior Seminar, a thematic course required of all graduating seniors. This year, the lecture series explores the theme, Globalization, Human Rights and Citizenship.

For more information, visit www.rit.edu/gannettseries or call 475-2057.


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